New!Tomb
Raiders of KV 46!How thorough were the robbers who plundered the tomb of
Yuya and Tuyu? How many times was the tomb robbed, and what were the thieves
after? This study of post interment activity in KV 46 provides some answers.

Special Section!An
Audience With Amenophis IIJourney
once more with Pierre Loti as he explores the shadowy chambers of KV 35 in the
early 1900's.

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at:
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Details: The mummy of Amosis, founder of
the 18'th Dynasty, had been damaged in antiquity. His head had been broken
off and his nose had been broken and pushed in. An examination of the
mummy revealed that the brain had been removed through the foramen magnum
rather than through the nostrils. The cranial cavity had been packed with
linen, and Reeves raises the possibility that this could have been done by
the ancient restorers in the 21'st Dynasty rather than by the original
embalmers. Ikram and Dodson note that Amosis, in distinction from other
ancient Egyptian men, had not been circumcised. The king's arms were not
folded over his chest as in other royal male mummies of later periods, but
were fully extended with the hands facing inward at the thighs. X-rays
revealed that Amosis suffered from arthritis. They also showed the remains
of some beads around the king's knees. No other objects were found with
Amosis in DB 320, but a shabti of this king is in the British Museum
(EA 32191.) Amosis was found in what,
according to Reeves, was probably the innermost coffin of his original
nested coffin set. It had been painted yellow, and may have originally
been gilded. Reeves does not mention the presence of adze marks on the
coffin, and their apparent absence indicates that the coffin's gilding (if
it ever had any) had been carefully removed, perhaps by necropolis
officials rather than by thieves. (See photo of coffin from Ian Bolton's
Egypt: Land of Eternitysite. Bolton, contra
Reeves above, states that this was probably not an original coffin of
Amosis.) (Source Bibliography: CCR, 3; DRN, 200,
206, 212, 264, n. 165; EM, 88-90; JEA 17, [1931], 10;
MiAE, 321-322; MR, 533 ff.; RM, 15 ff.; XRA,
1A4-11; XRP,
125ff.)

Other Burial Data:Original
Burial: The original resting place of Amosis is not known at this
time, although Ikram and Dodson suggest that it was probably located in
Dra Abu'l-Naga near the burials of his 17'th Dynasty ancestors. Based on
comparisons of the handwriting and content of linen dockets and also on
the stylistic similarities of their coffins, Reeves proposes that Amosis
and his possible son, Siamun, were both originally buried in the same
tomb. Restorations/Reburials: A linen docket found
on the wrappings of Amosis tell us that he was "osirified" on Year 8 3
prt 29 of Psusennes I. (See Linen Docket translation
below.) He was presumably reburied on that date in the k3y
of Inhapi, which Reeves identifies as WN A. From here, he was
transferred to DB 320 at a time which Reeves sets as after Year 11 of Shoshenq I.
(Source Bibliography: DRN, 251; MiAE,
321.)

Photo
Credit:RM (Cairo, 1912,) pl. XI. For
high resolution photos of Amosis see the University of Chicago's
Electronic Open Stacks copy of Smith's The Royal Mummies
(Cairo, 1912,) Call #: DT57.C2 vol59,plates XI and XII.

Queen Ahmose-Nofretari (c. 1570-1546
B.C.)Early 18'th DynastyProvenance: DB 320Discovery Date: 1860? (official
discovery 1881)Current Location: Cairo Museum
CG61055Biographical data: Ahmose-Nofretari was the
daughter of Ahottpe I and Seqnenre-Taa II. Along with her son, Amenhotep I, she
was worshiped as a patron of the tomb-builders at Deir el-Medina many
years after her death.

Details: The mummy identified as
that of Ahmose-Nofretari was that of an old woman with well-worn teeth and
balding scalp. A wig, consisting of plaits of human hair tied to strings,
had been placed upon her head. Other plaits had been affixed to her own
hair. Ahmose-Nofretari's mummy had been
damaged in antiquity by tomb robbers, and both her hands (as well as part
of her right forearm) had been broken off and were missing. A gaping
embalming incision, stuffed with linen, appeared in her left side,
and the impression of an embalming plate could still be seen in the dried
resinous material which was used to cover the wound. The thieves had
stolen this object, which had probably been made of
gold. Ahmose-Nofretari was found in her
original, very large outermost coffin (CG 61003.) It had probably
originally been decorated with gold foil, but this had been removed and
the areas which it had once covered were painted over in yellow to imitate
gold. This coffin is often accurately described as "colossal," and was
large enough to also accommodate the cartonnage coffin and mummy of
Ramesses III, which were found within its cavernous interior along with
Ahmose-Nofretari's mummy. (See lithograph reproduced in TVK, p.
139, of Ahmose-Nofretari's coffin, which gives a good indication
of its size. Also, see photo of coffin from Ian Bolton's Egypt: Land of Eternitysite.) Along with the
coffin, four calcite canopic jars (CM JE 26255A-D) attributed to
Ahmose-Nofretari were also found in DB 320. (Source Bibliography:
CCR, 3f.; DRN, 200, 206, 212; EM, 90; EMs, 36,
37; MiAE, 91, 104, 208, 316, 322, ill. 412; MR, 535f.;
RM, 13f.; XRA, 3B5-12; XRP,
127f.)

Other Burial Data:Original
Burial: Unknown. Reeves speculates that her original tomb was AN
B, the tomb which he also believes held the burial of Amenhotep
I. Official Inspections: Year 16 of Ramesses
IX'thRestorations: Year 6 & Year 16 of SmendesReburials: Reeves argues that
Ahmose-Nofretari and Amenhotep I were removed from AN B and cached in WN A
(the k3y of Inhapi) before Year 10 of Siamun. He
believes their transfer to DB 320 occurred sometime after Year 11 of Shoshenq I .
(Source: DRN,
251.)

Photo
Credit:RM (Cairo, 1912,) pl. VII. For high
resolution photo of Ahmose-Nofretari see the University of Chicago's
Electronic Open Stacks copy of Smith's The Royal Mummies
(Cairo, 1912,)Call #: DT57.C2 vol59,plate
VII.

Details: The mummy of Lady Rai was
unwrapped by G. E. Smith on June 26'th, 1909. He distinguished her mummy
as "the most perfect example of embalming that has come down to us from
the time of the early 18'th Dynasty, or perhaps even of any period." He
further characterized her as "the least unlovely" of the existing female
mummies, and described her as a "slim, gracefully-built woman," measuring
1m 510mm in height, with small "childlike"
hands. Lady Rai's teeth show only slight wear.
This, coupled with the fact that her scalp retained abundant amounts of
what appears to be her own hair (and not a wig) indicates that she was
relatively young when she died. Her hair is especially interesting because
of the elaborate fashion in which it had been styled (see photo above.)
Tightly plaited groups of braids were fashioned into long, thick masses
which hang suspended from either side of the head and cover the upper
chest region. Both of these masses of hair had been carefully wrapped in
linen bandages. Smith only removed the wrappings from one of these thick
tresses; the other was allowed to remain
bandaged. Lady Rai had been wrapped in linen
described by Smith as being of "moderately fine texture." Smith also
records that inscriptions were found on the wrappings, but he only
supplies data about one of these, which he must have found during the
unwrapping, and which only gave Lady Rai's name. Smith reports that the
mummy's face and body had been thinly coated with resin mixed with sand.
He found an embalming incision in the traditional position on the left
side of the body, and noted that this was covered with a fusiform
embalming plate of the kind found on other 18'th Dynasty mummies. A
single barrel-shaped carnelian bead was found on the right wrist--a small
reminder of the jewelry which once had been placed upon the
mummy. The intact coffin in which Lady Rai was
found (CG 61022) was of 19'th or 20'th Dynasty design and had
originally belonged to a "servant in the Place of Truth" named
Paheripedjet. At some point, this person was removed from the coffin and
replaced with Lady Rai, whose own coffin (CG 61004) was employed
for the burial of Ahmose-Inhapi. Paheripedjet's mummy was not identified
among those found in DB 320, and its final resting place is not currently
known with certainty. Reeves speculates that he may be one of the
unidentified DB 320 male mummies. (Source Bibliography: CCR,
4ff., 34f.; DRN, 202, 208, 213-14, 232, 252, 255; EM,
90; EMs, 36; LNK, 36, chart IX; MiAE, 316, ill.
102; MR, 530; RM, 11-13; .)

Other Burial Data:Original
Burial: Unknown.Reburials: Reeves thinks that Lady Rai
was perhaps rewrapped and docketed within WN A, the tomb which he
identifies as the k3y of Inhapi. She would have remained in
this tomb with other mummies associated with Amosis I (see above) until
their removal to DB 320, which Reeves dates to sometime after year 11 of
Shoshenq
I. (Source: DRN,
252.)Dockets: G. E. Smith provides the
only report of an identifying linen docket on the wrappings of Lady Rai.
He notes only that the inscription, which was translated by Daressy,
gives her name, and gives no further details. Smith also mentions several
other inscriptions found on the mummy's bandages, but these were
apparently never recorded or published. (Source: RM,
11.)

Photo
Credit:RM (Cairo, 1912,) pl. VI. For high
resolution photos of Lady Rai see the University of Chicago's
Electronic Open Stacks copy of Smith's The Royal Mummies
(Cairo, 1912,) Call #: DT57.C2 vol59,plates VI and VIII.

Details: When examined, the "mummy"
of Princess Sitamun turned out to be nothing more than a skull, a few
remaining bones, and a reed mat, all combined to create the simulacrum of
a mummy. One can only guess at the reasons for the manufacture of this
curious artificial corpse. Perhaps Sitamun, who was a small child at the
time of her demise, had died in such a way that little was left of
her body. She may have been devoured by wild animals or crocodiles. Since
religious belief necessitated the continued existence of a mummified body
in order to ensure existence in the Afterworld, a substitute body was
created for her. Or perhaps the original mummy of the little
Princess had been so thoroughly damaged by ancient tomb robbers in their
destructive search for valuables that nothing remained of it except her
skull and a few bones, which the restorers piously collected for a decent
reburial. Quite a lot of care was taken to provide her with a "body,"
however, and this may argue in favor of an earlier date for her
"restoration" than that which applies to the other royal mummies, whose
body parts (when found disarticulated by the restorers) were often hastily
and carelessly thrown together, sometimes with parts from different bodies
mixed together by mistake. (See, for example, the mummy of Ramesses VI.) Sitamun's
"mummy" was found in an uninscribed 18’th Dynasty coffin (CG61009),
which had been painted white. A Type A Coffin Docket appearedon its lid.. (See photo of coffin from Ian Bolton's Egypt:
Land of Eternitysite.) (See Coffin Docket Translation
below.)(Source Bibliography: CCR, 10; DRN,
203, 208, 214, 232, 252; MiAE, 122, 316; MR,
538; RM, 19.)

Other Burial Data:Original
Burial: Unknown. Probably Dra
Abu'l-Naga. Restorations& Reburials: Reeves
dates the restoration of Sitamun to the same approximate time as the
"osirification" of Siamun, an event which occurred in Year 8 of Psusennes
I, 3 prt 29. He places her artificial "mummy" in the
k3y of Inhapi, and dates her transfer into DB 320 to
sometime after year 11 of Shoshenq I . (Source: DRN,
252.)

Biographical data:
Probably a son of Amosis I, although he is sometimes viewed as the son of
Amenhotep I.
(Source Bibliography: DRN, 253.)

Details: The mummy of Ahmose-Sipair
was unwrapped by G. E. Smith and A. R. Ferguson on September 9'th, 1905.
Among the 21'st Dynasty re-wrappings were found numerous barley stalks,
perhaps placed there as symbols of immortality. Not much remained of the
original mummy except for a few bones and the distorted skin. The skin was
light brown in color, and Smith reported that it was still soft and
pliable. Smith discovered that the boy had a full set of deciduous teeth,
indicating that he was about five or six years old when he died. Smith
also noted that he appeared to have been circumcised, and stated that this
was an unusual feature in boys of that age from the 18'th Dynasty, who
were typically circumcised at puberty. The
small mummy of Ahmose-Sapair was found in a child’s coffin of 18’th
Dynasty type (CG 61007), probably a replacement coffin, from which
all the gilded surfaces and eye inlays had been removed. A Type A
Coffin Docket appeared on its lid. (See Type A Coffin Docket
Translation below.) (Source Bibliography: CCR, 9f;
DRN, 200f., 206, 212, 232, 253; RM, 22ff; MiAE, 316;
MR, 582 [5].)

Other Burial Data: Original
Burial: Probably Dra Abu’l Nega(Source
Bibliography: DRN, 253; RNT,
40.)Inspections and Reburials: The Papyrus
Abbot (3, 13) mentions an inspection of the tomb of
Ahmose-Sapair in Year 16 of Ramesses IX'th, 3 3ht 18. At that time,
the tomb was discovered to be undisturbed. Reeves argues that, at some
unspecified time after this inspection, the child's mummy was moved into
the k3y of Inhapi along with other early 18'th Dynasty
burials. He dates Ahmose-Sipair's transfer into DB 320 to sometime after
year 11 of Shoshenq I . (Source Bibliography: DRN, 253;
TR, pl. 2.)

Photo
Credit:RM (Cairo, 1912,) pl. XIX. For high
resolution photo of Prince Sipair see the University of Chicago's
Electronic Open Stacks copy of Smith's The Royal Mummies (Cairo,
1912,) Call #: DT57.C2 vol59,plate XIX.

Details: The literature available
concerning this mummy is somewhat difficult to interpret because it seems
to incorporate a confusion of the mummy found in DB 320 (seen at left)
with another similarly named female mummy found years later (in 1929) by
Herbert Winlock in DB 358. The mummy in the photo at left was labeled with
a Type A Linen Docket (see Linen Docket Translations
below) which clearly identifies her as "Meryetamun." Reeves states
that the location of this mummy's original place of burial remains unknown
(DRN, 252.) Yet Reeves, in his list of Type B
Dockets (DRN, 236 [#'s 24a-b-c, 25]) also includes
linen dockets apparently found on the wrappings of another "Meryetamun,"
the one found in DB 358 by Winlock. Reeves further states of the DB
320 mummy that X-rays of the pelvic area revealed the presence of beads,
apparently remnants of some original funerary jewelry left by thieves
(DRN, 206, #4.) He amends his brief description of this
mummy by giving a reference to Harris and Weeks (XRP, 130)
where a description of a mummy named "Ahmose-Meryet-Amon" is given which
also describes the beads, and which further notes that
"Ahmose-Meryet-Amon" had suffered in life from arthritis and scoliosis.
Ikram and Dodson (in MiAE, 322) also list a "Meryetamun,"
and describe her as having suffered from arthritis and scoliosis. However,
they confidently assert that this particular mummy had been found in TT
358 (DB 358). Yet, from the description they give, this is undoubtedly the
mummy which Reeves attributes to DB 320. (It is interesting that Ikram and
Dodson do not give a museum number for the mummy in their description,
which would help clarify matters.) Apparently, some confusion exists on
the part(s) of one or more of these researchers concerning the identity of
the mummy they are describing. The mummy
depicted in the photograph above derives from DB 320. It was unwrapped on
June 30'th, 1886, by Gaston Maspero, who believed its Linen Docket
identification was incorrect. He tentatively dated the mummy to the Middle
Kingdom, but G. E. Smith found nothing in the manner of the mummy's
embalming which was inconsistent with early 18'th Dynasty mummification
techniques. The embalming incision through which the internal organs had
been removed had been made in the left flank, and the body cavity had been
packed with linen pads soaked in resin. Most of the wrappings of the mummy
had also been soaked with resin, a feature which Smith notes is common to
mummies of the18'th Dynasty. Smith observed
that both of Ahmose-Meryetamun's ears had been pierced, and remarked on
the poor state of her dentition. She was elderly at the time of her death,
and may have died as the result of a fall backward which produced a head
injury still visible on her mummified scalp. Other post-mortem damage was
evident: Ahmose-Meryetamun's right arm had been pulled off and her
left forearm had been separated. In addition to the
Type A Linen Docket on the outer wrappings, two other
inscriptions were found on the mummy. One piece of linen from the inner
wrappings was inscribed with the words pr mwt ("The Temple
of Mut,") indicating its place of origin. The inner shroud bore extracts
from a copy of the Book of the Dead which had been inscribed for a
h3ty-c named Mentuhotpe. Ahmose Meryetamun was
found in an 18'th Dynasty style coffin (CG 61010) that had
originally belonged to a steward named Seniu. Although essentially intact,
the face had been adzed off, probably indicating that it had originally
been gilded. (See photo of coffin from Ian Bolton's Egypt: Land of Eternitysite.) (Source
Bibliography: CCR, 11f.; DRN, 200, 206, 214, 232, 236, 252;
MiAE, 322; MR, 539f.; RM, 6ff.; XRA, 3C11-3D6;
XRP, 130.)

Other Burial Data:Original
Burial: Reeves believes that the DB 320 Meryetamun was probably
originally buried in the Deir el-Bahri region. Her employment of the
steward Seniu's coffin (cf. above) seems to imply that her tomb had
originally been close to his. Reeves points out that Lansing's 1918-19
discovery of a shabti inscribed for Seniu in Dier el-Bahri seems to
indicate that this was the location of the steward's burial.
(Sources: BMMA, Egyptian Expedition 1918-20, 6, fig. 2; DRN,
252f.; SoE, vol. II, 59, fig.
29.)

Restorationsand Reburials: Reeve's
dates the rewrapping of the DB 320 Meryetamun to Years 7-8 of Psusennes I.
He contends that she was also cached at this time in the k3y
of Inhapi. Reeves dates her removal from Inhapi's tomb and her placement
in DB 320 to sometime after Year 11 of Shoshenq
I (Source: DRN, 252.)

Photo Credit:RM (Cairo, 1912,) pl. IV.
For high resolution photo of Ahmose-Meryetamen see the
University of Chicago's Electronic Open Stacks copy of Smith's The
Royal Mummies (Cairo, 1912,) Call #: DT57.C2 vol59,plate
IV (showing Ahmose-Meryetamen on left.)